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The life and times of Aaron Hunt at Bremen

vor 2 Stunden

After 13 uninterrupted years at Werder Bremen, Hunt scored twice on his final home game for the club on Matchday 33The Lower Saxony-born player scored on his full debut for the Green-Whites - a 2-0 victory over GladbachHe earned his first full international cap in a friendly against Cote d'Ivoire in 2009

Munich - Aaron Hunt could hardly have wished for a better send-off on his final home appearance for SV Werder Bremen. 13 uninterrupted years and 214 Bundesliga games since first joining the club, not only did the 27-year-old score both goals in the Grün-Weißen's 2-0 win over Hertha Berlin, he also picked up an award from the German Olympic Society for his remarkable act of fair play against 1. FC Nürnberg in March.

In light of Hunt's decision not to renew his contract at the Weser-Stadion, bundesliga.com looks back at the career of Bremen's departing midfielder...

Born to an English mother and a German father, Hunt played for regional clubs VfL Oker and Goslarer SC 08 as a youngster, before joinging Werder as a 14-year-old in 2001. After three years with the reserves, Hunt took his first-team bow against Hannover 96 on 18 September 2004, replacing Croatian striker Ivan Klasnic in the 84th minute. Bremen won the match 3-0, with Valerian Ismael, Johan Micoud and Miroslav Klose grabbing the goals at the Weser-Stadion.

Hunt had to wait nearly five more months for his starting debut, but the Lower Saxony-born player marked the occasion with a goal in a 2-0 victory over Borussia Mönchengladbach in February 2005, making him the club's youngest goal-scorer of all-time at the age of just 18 years and 161 days. Since then, Hunt has scored a further 45 goals in 214 appearances for Bremen, including the all-important third goal in a 3-2 victory over Real Madrid CF in the UEFA Champions League in 2007.

Although he made his Bremen debut after the club had won the 2003/04 Bundesliga title, Hunt didn't have to wait long for his first piece of silverware: At the beginning of the 2006/07 season, Werder beat an FC Bayern München side featuring Philipp Lahm and Bastian Schweinsteiger 2-0 in Leipzig to lift the DFL League Cup. Bremen managed to finish ahead of Bayern in the Bundesliga that year, but it wasn't enough to win a second league title in four years as VfB Stuttgart finished top of the pile.

After nearly three years without a trophy, Hunt and Co. reached the DFB Cup final in 2008/09. In a tense encounter at Berlin's Olympiastadion, Bremen ran out 1-0 winners over Bayer 04 Leverkusen, with a young Mesut Özil grabbing the only goal of the game. The win proved the perfect pick-me-up for Thomas Schaaf's side, who had suffered a 2-1 defeat to Ukrainian giants Shakhtar Donetsk in the final of the UEFA Cup ten days previously.

The attacking midfielder's impressive performances for Bremen have not gone unnoticed at international level. After 13 appearances for the Under-21s, Joachim Löw handed Hunt his full international debut on 2 November 2009 in an international friendly against Cote d'Ivoire. Hunt has since made two further appearances for die Nationalmannschaft, coming on as a substitute in friendlies against Denmark in 2010 and against Ecuador in 2013.

Hunt has had his fair share of injury problems during his career. A troublesome knee complaint kept him out for the entire second half of the 2005/06 campaign, while a groin injury forced him to play through the pain barrier for most of the majority of the 2006/07 Rückrunde. He underwent a successful operation in the summer of 2007, but he continued to be plagued by knee and groin injuries for much of the following campaign. This season, Hunt has only missed three matches through injury.

With Bremen leading Nürnberg 2-0 on Matchday 24, Hunt went to ground following a challenge by Javier Pinola inside the penalty area. The referee promptly pointed to the spot, but much to everyone's astonishment, Hunt jumped to his feet and told the referee he had tripped on the turf. The referee immediately revised his decision, and on his final home game for the club, Hunt received the the Fair Play Medal awarded to him by the German Olympic Society (DOG) back in March.